John Terry declared that he would be fulfilling a lifetime ambition in making his first start for England in tonight's friendly against Croatia.

With Sol Campbell and Jonathan Woodgate both ruled out through injury, Terry will line up alongside Rio Ferdinand in central defence.

For the 22-year-old Chelsea defender, this represents confirmation of his rich potential after making his international debut at the end of last season as a substitute against Serbia & Montenegro.

Having been tipped as a future England captain by Tony Adams and Marcel Desailly, he was suspended from international football after being charged following a nightclub incident in January 2002.

However, he was cleared of those charges on August 22 last year and Sven-Goran Eriksson has been impressed with his development ever since.

Terry declared: "Tonight's game will be the biggest of my career without a doubt. I got on against Serbia & Montenegro, which was great, but to start a game for my country is the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition.

"I will have a few nerves, just as I did last Saturday, when I was waiting to see if I'd been named in the squad itself. But nerves are a good thing. They show that you're on your toes and not complacent."

Terry is relishing the prospect of lining up alongside Ferdinand, saying: "I've said before how highly I rate Rio.

"I'm always watching him on television to see if there's something I can take from his game to add to mine.

"I'm really looking forward to partnering him in central defence. Our styles should suit each other. I think we're both strong in the air and comfortable with the ball at our feet."

While Chelsea used to have at best a handful of English players in their entire squad, now they can boast four members of the senior England party and Terry has paid tribute to the influence of boss Claudio Ranieri.

"It always helps to have players you know around you - on and off the pitch. It's great to have all the Chelsea players in the squad," added Terry.

"If you think back a few years, Dennis Wise was the only Englishman playing for Chelsea, now there's quite a few of us.

"You've got to give Claudio Ranieri credit for that. When he came in, he said that he wanted to get more English players and that's exactly what he's done."